I do not know much about the hog dog rodeos but I will say there is nothing wrong with hog hunting. It serves a purpose as the feral hog populations destroy crops and damage fields. The alternative to hog hunting is to hunt them down from helicopters with high powered rifles which is a mass slaughter. If they are not hunted with dogs they will be hunted with helicopters. The purpose of the helicopters is to kill as many as possible so being accuarate and making sure they die clean is not a priority.

Farmers seek out hog hunters and request that their land be hunted. It is cheaper for a farmer to allow hog hunters on his land than it is for him to hire a helicopter.

It is great to love animals and seek good treatment for them, but one should always do so knowing all the facts and not just jump to conclusions like banning all hunting.

Also not every situation of a hog in a large pen with dogs is a hog rodeo either. Young dogs need to be tested and taught in a controlled enviorment which increases their chance of survival once they hit the field.

The hog situation is a fact of life and I would bet good money that if these feral hogs were in your back yard you would be calling for their removal.

Ferel pigs breed year round in areas like Florida, La and parts of Texas and average two litters a year per breeding female. Litters can contain up to 10 piglets so each breeding female can put out and additional 20 pigs per year. Where will they all go if they are not hunted?

I do not have any protection dogs but the one thing I can say is it is not about aggression. I have seen a lot of people say that a paticualar dog would make a fine protection dog, or police dog because the dog is aggressive to strangers. IMO that is the last dog you want to train to attack people on command.

Your response makes sense. If you are competing a lot then you probably do not want or require your dogs to execute a perfect finish to every recall so having a formal one and an informal one makes sense.

I still do not understand the emergency one (mind you I am not saying it is bad or not useful) , I have had my dogs called off of game, called away from strange dogs and called away from highways using the one recall. Maybe my success is because I always place a high emphasis on getting the return perfected. I do not always ask them to sit (if I need a formal recall then my body language communicates that request) when they return but as stated before this is one command that I work on constantly and my opinion is that it is never complete but requires constant practice and constant reward to keep it to the point where you have some degree of assurance that they will return to you when needed.

It is impossible that an 8-week-old puppy could be peeing, chewing or doing any other behavior out of spite.
Dogs who chew and destroy things in the owner’s absence are bored (IMO). Hektor is a great example of this. If I fail to exercise him I on occasion return to find that he has shredded the newspaper. He did not do this because he was angry with me for not walking him, nor because he was angry with me for leaving. He did this because he was full of energy and he was bored.
Now when I walk him and then leave he never shreds the newspaper.
When he does shred the newspaper it is my fault. I failed to provide exercise, I failed to provide entertainment sufficient to keep him occupied and I left the newspaper accessible.

I have to say that is puzzles me why anyone would use two commands for recall and designate one of them as the "emergency one". Does this mean that the non-emergency one can be ignored if the dog chooses to do so? Are they allowed to return more slowly with one than the other? Why would any trainer teach that any recall is a casual exercise? It seems like it would make more sense to teach the casual owner how very important the recall is. It is important even if you never let your dog off leash. Collars break, people leave doors and gates open. Any pet class should always emphasize the importance of the recall and if there is nothing else you ever teach your dog you should spend time perfecting this one.
Also what is the difference between the two? Can you explain with more detail?

It seems this would be confusing for the dog, and could even be confusing for the owner. If "come" is your normal command and you get in a situation where the dog must return NOW because of danger it seems like most people (casual) would be saying the command they use most often (come) and would forget the emergency one in their back pocket. Or say come and then OH #### and say the other one. All of which burns up time and confuses the dog.

My advice on collars is to always use the most simple collar possible (flat) but in certain circumstances and with certain dogs (especially large dogs that drag people around) other collars can be useful in regaining control. I prefer pinch collars to choke collars. Choke collars are useful if you use them correctly and if you are prepared to adminsiter corrections which are done by popping the leash quickly, causing the collar to tighten very fast and then releasing. If they are tight all the time and the dog's tounge is hanging out they are not being used correctly.
If you are not prepared to administer the corrections then a choke collar would be of no use and would cause you and your dog more discomfort.
prongs will tighten when the dog pulls and will release when he does not, they require a much lesser "correction" if you administer corrections.
There are also harness's which assist with a dog pulling.
Whatever you use it is good to see it demonstrated and to make certain you use it correctly.
I would seek out a local training class to assist you in getting to the point where your dog can walk on a normal collar. I think this should be the intent regardless of what tool you use.
Both mine walk on flat collars, I do use a prong collar on some occasions (mostly with Hektor).

I choose not to encourage this behaviour in my Hektor even though he would do very well at it. My reasoning is that since I cannot always predict who will approach him (we have a lot of kids around) and how they will approach him I insist that he be polite at all times. I believe because of his breed and his personality that should anyone every try and harm me or my family in his presence he would naturaaly protect us and it is not something that I need to encourage or train him to do.

Just having a GSD at your side is sufficient to deter all but the very stupid or very desperate. When that fool decides to mug you your dog (regardless if you have encouraged this or not) will leap to your defense.

I would encourage you to be certain (if you decide that you do want to encourage this) that there is never the chance that a child will run up to your dog while she is guarding your purse. There is always the chance that people will approach her with the intent of interacting with her in a friendly manner and they will not even have noticed your purse , let alone have any intent to take it. Since her job is to guard it she will not be able to distinguish between those who mean harm and those who do not, after all her job is to make sure no one gets near the purse.

"""Asher says """""I suggest leaving your puppy outside an additional 10 minutes after he goes to be sure he is empty. I promise that if he is peeing, it is not from spite, it is because he has to pee.""""""

I agree 100%!!! Dogs do not pee or poop out of spite they do it because they have to go and if it happens in the house it is because they do not clearly understand where they are suppose to go. 8 week old pups do not yet understand that they should go outside even if you have been lucky so far and the pup is mostly going outside.